#skrelmcomic

More worldbuilding info can be found HERE

Please keep in mind that the only things to regard as true in relation to this are what I say about Waster and Streetcleaner society in general. The OCs from other Users featured in the post do not officially subscribe to any of my headcannons about them but do illustrate different ways to interpret my headcannons in application.

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XAL units

Extra Armor Loadbearer [XAL] units primarily carry extra fuel either for their own use or to distribute as needed. They also are capable of carrying / moving heavier weights than typical Streetcleaners. They typically are of the Defender Batch Types as they often were assigned to be placed at Scouter Checkpoints.

Scouter Checkpoints were established as basic supply stations for Streetcleaner Scouts as they progressed through early Hell Exploration Assignments. Defender Streetcleaners, remaining at these points often, helped assist with building up and reinforcing them to become more formidable structures. It is worth noting that Defender Batch Types were not exclusively assigned to Scouter Checkpoints and functions can vary.

XAL units role as a supplier makes them often targets. The extra thick armor helps keep them going and withstand more or heavier attacks. This applies to Post Humanity times as well. Fuel is a valuable resource and so it is quite dangerous for those who have more than others.

It is more common to find them in Limbo due to the relatively peaceful nature of the Layer. The primary residents being Streetcleaners helps to protect them due to Streetcleaner's having a high priority on maintaining Scout Teams.

That said... Waster is a known risk. The waste of fuel, over destructive tendencies as result, and risk of being in association with Swordsmachine gives pause to extending any team up invitations. XALSOO and Learos talking in the group chat about Waster being spotted out and about and confirming if they are alone alerts others of their team (and thus all Streetcleaners on the Layer) to these facts. Waster is aware of this broadcasting and they do not acknowledge it.

Convenience link: Post with the notes about XAL units is HERE incase anyone wants a refresher on them.

XAL SPEECH

You may have noticed that the XAL units have pretty extensive vocal capabilities. Since XAL units were intended to be more stationary and defensive units, it was anticipated they were going to last longer than many other streetcleaner units. Thus, it was anticipated that they would be a more regular point of contact and communication for the human operatives. This lead to them being given more advanced vocal capacity than others.

However, you still see them speaking machine like and much like a series of operations being run as opposed to full human fluidity of speech. They were still intended to be more disposable as scouts and thus didn't get the premium package so to 'speak'.

If you can't tell I enjoy abusing my limited excel/google sheets formula knowledge to help give more machine vibes to their communication. So XALSOO said

=iferror(if(Unit="",index(Scout Point: Flowerbed Fortress,Match(Unit,limbo!First-Limbo!Fourth,0)),Proceed),Reassess)

Basically that is a bastardized formula that translates to

If they're not here, we'll search limbo 1-4 to bring them back to Flowerbed Fortress. If they are here, we can just continue on. Otherwise, if they're not here and we can't find them, we'll figure that out when we get there.

ASR-1 SPEECH

ASR-1 is noted to have a much more limited vocal capacity and uses some basic sign language and gestures when needed to help communicate. Luckily though, with other streetcleaners, the "hivemind" kind of sync they all share helps him to speak more directly.

I liked the idea of representing ASR-1's speech with a sort of "degraded" version of the chat text than the more functional units. ASR-1 Will scavenge and repurpose parts from other machines so I can imagine their vocal system has been affected along the way. Kind of like the equivalent of an accent for a machine I'd guess? At least in my headcannon here (Prism feel free to yell at me if I'm way off track lmao)

ASR-1 is a scavenger and modifies himself. It will make use of other machine's assets to conserve its own fuel and he has a habit of using his flamethrower as a club more than a gun. THIS sums up Waster's feelings on this

OTHER

Why yes. That is a deconstructed mindflayer that ASR-1 is digging through. It's part of why they're hanging out at Flowerbed Fortress as it's a reliably more calm scout point and gives ASR-1 plenty of time to be left alone as he digs through possible useful bits and bobs.

Swordsmachine is an interesting case of machine. It shows that it has the most deviation from programed commands and thus developed of personality because it can be creative in its' problem solving. Swordsmachine combines pieces regardless of source for utility and form and this pattern of machine has inspired other machines to follow a now (and new to them) pre-established concept of behavior.

Swordsmachine also retained a sound card and external speaker capabilities as we can hear it make sounds in game and produces a death beep much the same as street cleaners (who would have had practically and necessary purposes to be able to produce speech comprehensible to humans in the process of doing their job safely).

The retention of language as noted by the Terminal data is due to a hoarding tendency, but that tendency is one that sees value and opportunity in all that it hoards. Despite the irrelevancy among so many machines, this hardware being hoarded and retained shows a presence of mind that puts value on communication abilities and being able to interact with the widest range of entities. There is a self to speak to an other-not-the-self entity and an awareness of the definition of the edges of where one stops and one begins. There is an awareness to the opportunity that arises from this arrangement by enabling interaction capabilities.

However, Swordsmachine is not one to use pronouns as its concept of self and consciousness of self are a bit of a gray area for its ability to actually comprehend. Swordsmachine was designed as a work machine and repurposed war machine so there was less need to provide soft skills into the programming and too high of level logical reasoning and computational problem solving on abstract concepts. Swordsmachine operates very much in the tangible.

Swordsmachine knows it is. Swordsmachine knows it is not not it. Swordsmachine lacks the ability to acknowledge any importance on gender (everyone and everything Swordsmachine fights dies and bleeds and that's all that matters). So Swordsmachine tends to go by the "It/Its" and use self reflective language such as "this one" in place of "I/myself/me" type of referential vocabulary.

I think most Swordsmachines operator on this same concept (and yes I know the original is only in the prelude levels and the rest are copycats, but I still call them Swordsmachines as a template name because that is what they have built themselves by) though perhaps to varying degrees of successfully acheiving an understanding or comprehension of the "self" they find themselves conscious of. Copying Swordsmachine gives them a template to structure the self and find a way forwards as Swordsmachine is able to "inspire" the "enthusiasts".

(Which can we take a hot second to look at that? Because what do you MEAN it is potentially machines capable of "enthusiasm" ?! or is this in relation to Hell Energy or Husks/Demons possessing scrap and building themselves into a machine as some have been shown to modify themselves with robot parts already. But the ability to have, acknowledge, and act on the ability to be "enthusiastic" about something is another point to machine self awareness/consciousness alongside the Gutterman poem. Which god that's a whole other post)

Final thoughts with Swordsmachines is the naming convention… I think Swordsmachine accepts the names others bestow on it. They are its call signs. It probably responds to many equally as all are it and it is all of these because the external other can perceive it by that call sign and so that call sign is something that it intrinsically has just as it has many parts from many other machines and is still itself.

On a meta Level, the copycats (Specifically: Agony and Tundra) are apparently references to Devil May Cry weapons. Them given names by the perception of an other projecting a set of traits on them to define them from an external perspective sums up the same concept as I just described for Swordsmachine call signs.

I also don't have one settled for the Swordsmachine that is around Waster lmao I'll get to that eventually

Each Scout Point is named according to obvious landmarks as a naming convention. These Scout Points were originally used as tracking markers for the Hell explorations. There are some, however, that do not follow this naming structure. These were either created in later expeditions or for a particular event or phenomenon that occur(s) in the area.

A Scout Points' size varies, but generally the rule of thumb is the higher up you are, the larger it can be. Upper levels tend to be more developed for additional functions such as testing and documentation back up archives. Deeper levels tend to be smaller and more heavily fortified; based more on function and practicality. Their information centers and relays are the most secure areas of the Scout Point as that is the primary function for their expeditions.

The number of Scout Points can vary on each layer as further explorations occurred. Sometimes there may be a primary Scout Point with satellite bases scattered about. Other times there may be multiple larger or more heavily fortified ones depending on circumstances and so on and so forth.

The Scout Points would be vital resources as the Hell Explorations and Mining endeavors were underway. They've served as a point of safety for machines and formerly Humans. In more recent times, the Streetcleaners have started to completely overtake many of them due to their cooperative nature giving them a numbers advantage. Thus they remove other machines that had formerly cooperated and taken shelter there. However, there are points that exist with mixed machine types and or entirely taken over by other particular types of machine.

For Streetcleaners in particular, as time has progressed, requests for parts or resources or etc often requires a trade of information recently observed so as to keep updated logs of developments throughout the layers. If new or uncommon information is reported, there tends to be more allocated to the request. If there is more common knowledge or little to nothing to report, the request will be fulfilled in a smaller quantity if at all depending on the Scout Point's resource status.

Knowledge is power and a Scout Point can be a vital hub of activity and trade... sometimes...

Also: Me looking at the collection of OCs I've been gathering and scooping up